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Papers by Brown University scientists show that water on ancient Mars was pervasive and was working hard, changing the minerals below ground and on the surface. The paper in Nature by planetary geologist John Mustard lends the first in-depth look at the various terrains in which water-bearing minerals were present. A companion paper in Nature Geoscience by graduate student Bethany Ehlmann shows a clay-rich delta that may store past life.

Public art and activism collide this summer, as Brown University artist Mark Tribe stages reenactments of Vietnam-era protest speeches on the sites where they were originally delivered roughly four decades ago. The speeches, part of a national public art initiative called The Port Huron Project, will be held in Los Angeles, Oakland, and New York City.

A Brown-led research team has for the first time found evidence of water deep within the Moon. In a paper published in the July 10 issue of the journal Nature, the researchers believe the water was contained in lunar magmas ejected more than 3 billion years ago. The discovery strongly suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence – and perhaps since it was first created.

More than 100 minority scholars have earned doctoral degrees thanks to the Leadership Alliance, a national consortium based at Brown University that identifies and nurtures minority students to become the next generation of academic leaders. To mark the 100th Ph.D. milestone, the Alliance will hold a symposium July 25-27, 2008, at the Hartford Marriott Downtown and the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Conn.

Karen Davis, a human resources executive with over 20 years of experience in higher education, has been named vice president for human resources at Brown University. Davis takes up her new post on July 1, 2008.

Brown University engineering students have organized the campus’s first Edible Car Competition, in which teams build and race vehicles made out of food – with materials ranging from bagels to butternut squash.

A research team led by Brown University planetary geologist James Head has determined that volcanism played a central role in forming Mercury’s surface. The evidence of volcanic activity lends important insights into Mercury’s geologic history and appears in a special section describing the MESSENGER mission’s recent flyby of Mercury in the July 4 issue of Science.

Marisa Quinn, currently assistant to the president at Brown University, has been named vice president for public affairs and University relations. Quinn will begin her duties Aug. 1, 2008, succeeding Michael Chapman.